The new childcare spaces will look similar to Lii Michif Otipemisiwak's early years centre on Tranquille Road (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

METIS CHILDCARE CENTRE

Métis childcare centre to help improve child welfare in Kamloops

May 25, 2021 | 5:11 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s a long-standing gap in the system that has denied Métis children of their culture for years.

Lii Michif Otipemisiwak, the Métis organization in Kamloops that oversees children in care, has been provided a cultural space for children in Kamloops since 2017. Now it’s being provided funding for 112 spaces with plans to build a new centre.

“It’s a project we’ve actually been working on for a long time,” Lii Michif Otipemisiwak Executive Director Colleen Lucier said. “It’s connected to our hopes and desires to actually transform the child welfare system to increase improved outcomes for the children and families we serve.”

Lii Michif truly believes giving children an early exposure to their culture can be transformative.

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“We know that if we can instill within a child a sense of belonging, a sense of pride in their cultural identity as early as possible, that will create resiliency and a sense of pride in themselves and the strength to get through life’s challenges a little easier — just having a strong sense of who they are,” Lucier said.

The new centre, set to open in spring 2023, will include 24 infant-toddler spaces, 24 spaces for children aged three years to kindergarten, 40 preschool spaces and 24 school-age spaces.

It will look similiar to Lii Michif’s early years centre on Tranquille that provides a space for children it cares for.

“In some mainstream programs, they don’t have their culture shown in the programs. In our early years centre, we have The Giving Tree, or we have the Red River Cart with the Métis puppets, and the Trappers Tent,” Lii Michif Otipemisiwak’s Early Years Manager MacKenzie Papp said. “So just bringing those cultural teachings and different cultural aspects — like books that are about Metis.”

Lii Michif Otipemisiwak hasn’t nailed down a location but envisions something similar to Kikekyelc: A Place of Belonging, a housing unit on Singh Street for elders and youth.

There will be residential units above and the childcare centre on the main floor.

“Our best hope is that this childcare centre will be attached to a housing development [that’s] centrally-located, so that it’s convenient and the supports are really wrapped around families,” Lucier noted.

Priority will go to Métis children, but the centre will also welcome other First Nations children as well.